Resident Evil 7: Novelization
by RedfieldFamilyFan24
Summary: Ethan Winters believed his wife was dead, but all that changes when he gets an email from her. Is this some kind of joke or is Mia really out there needing his help? What could have happened to her over the last three years? Ethan ventures to Dulvey, Louisiana hoping to find his wife and bring her home. He has no idea what is waiting for him there. CANCELLED: Sorry everyone
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1 – Prologue

Mia was alive! After almost three years, Ethan had gotten an email. When he first saw it in his in inbox on his iPhone 6, he thought it was some kind of cruel joke from his best friend and college roommate Dan. However even Dan wouldn't have been that much of a prick. Besides, he was right next to him chugging beer with one of their other friends, Matt, who was hardly looking away from the Texas Rangers game on TV at the crowded sports bar.

Ethan paused. This couldn't be real. He could still remember when one police officer told him that Mia was probably dead. He recalled a couple months later when his older brother had told him that he should move on with his life.

He could never move on and yet this email… What if it was some kind of joke? Dan was drunk and it didn't take long to type up an email on your phone.

But he opened it despite that. The email didn't say much, but at the same time it told him everything he needed to know. For now, at least.

"Ethan, what's with your face?" Dan slurred. He took another sip of his beer, accidentally spilling some of it on the chipped oak bar in the process. It wasn't the first time it had happened that night. Occasionally a waitress would come over and glare at him, but Dan never cared.

Ethan had planned to give the waitress a good tip when they left, but now none of that mattered.

"Seriously, Ethan. What's up?" Dan questioned.

Ethan stared at him. He tried to get the words out. Mia was alive. She was in Dulvey, Louisiana. He had to go get her. Despite how much he tried to spit them out, they wouldn't form. He couldn't utter a single word.

Instead he pretty much fell off his bar stool.

"Dude!" Dan said, laughing as he tried to grab him which just led to Dan knocking over his beer. It dripped onto the floor causing a mess. A nearby bartender shot them an evil look. Ethan didn't care. Mia… Mia was all that mattered. "Look what you made me do, Ethan. What the fuck?"

"I have to go," Ethan finally managed to spit out though it sounded more like hafta. "There's something… I have to go."

Dan and Matt just stared at him as if he was crazy or if they didn't believe what he was saying. Both of them had always been bachelors and their idea of a long-term relationship was with a woman who you hadn't picked up at the bar an hour earlier.

"Why ya have to go?" Dan asked, laughing as he stumbled off the stool. "Come on, man. It's not that big of a deal." He glanced over at a pretty blond waitress. "She can clean up the mess you made."

Ethan shook his head. He couldn't deal with this now. He had to get home. He had to come up with a plan. No… He didn't need a plan. He needed to get out of here and retrieve his wife. He didn't know what Mia had gotten messed up in, but he had to go to her. He'd bring her back home. Things could be how they had been before.  
Ethan stumbled out of the bar, ignoring the confused shouts of his two friends. Outside thunder and lightning were booming as if the night sky was angry at the world for something that it had done. In just a few seconds, Ethan was drenched. He didn't care. He hurried over to his car and pulled at the door, forgetting to even unlock it so of course it didn't budge. Keys. He reached in his pocket, accidentally dropping the keys in a puddle on the ground. A master of unlocking he was not. He scooped up the keys and then shoved them into the lock.

Ethan didn't remember much of his ride home, just that he couldn't get there fast enough. At times, he would worry that the cops would pull him over for driving too fast. Ethan didn't care if he got a ticket, but it would mean that he would have to wait longer to find his wife. Even a minute seemed too long.

Luckily, he made it home without getting pulled over. He hurried out of his car, almost falling as he did and then hurried into the house. The house was a mess. When Mia had lived with him it had been spotless. She didn't seem like it all the time, but she was a neat freak who hated anything out of place. When she had left for her babysitting job, the house had slowly deteriorated and when he lost contact with her it started to look like a war zone.

Mia could scold or even yell at him for it, but he wouldn't care. He just wanted to see her again. Make sure that she was safe and bring her back home.

Not that she would have scolded or got mad at him. Mia hardly ever did. She was well… amazing… Dan would sometimes say that she seemed like the perfect wife and how he didn't know how someone like Ethan had ended up with her. Ethan used to wonder how he ended up with her too, but he also knew that she was far from perfect. His wife had secrets that she wouldn't even tell him.

Sometimes he saw a dark part of her that he didn't understand.

But everyone had secrets and dark parts of themselves. Ethan needed to find Mia. He hurried to his room and grabbed a suitcase which he crammed some clothes into. He didn't care what. He just needed something in case he had to stay in Dulvey for awhile. Who knew what Mia's situation was. She had just told him where she was and that he should come get her.

Ethan hurried up to his attic where he kept all of Mia's things and crammed some of her clothes into the suitcase as well. He hadn't wanted to put her stuff in the attic, but it seemed like he was giving up on her, but his mother and brother had pushed him to get rid of everything and this was the only thing he could do to get them to drop it.

Deep down Ethan was never one hundred percent sure that his wife was dead. He always figured he would just know if she was. He and Mia just had that kind of connection. And now he had proof she wasn't. Unless this was a joke too, but it didn't feel like it was.

No… she was out there and he was going to bring her home. He had endless questions about where she had been, but they would get it all sorted out.

Ethan sighed and pulled his phone out of his pocket. He was tempted to listen to the last video that she had sent him again. He had listened to it so many times that he had it memorized, but he still often couldn't help himself from watching again.

But now wasn't the time. He needed to get ready. He wanted to be on the road as soon as possible.

Every second he was apart from Mia was too long.

* * *

Author Note: Hey! I hope you all enjoyed this. I'm going to try to update this story every weekend, and I'm a fairly fast writer so I don't imagine that I will have any problem doing so. I hope you all enjoyed it. This is my first RE fanfic even though I've been writing original fiction for fun for a long time and I've been a Resident Evil fan for sixteen years.

Feel free to review! Thank you for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Ethan left as soon as he possibly could. It would be a long drive from Dallas to Dulvey but he planned to do it all in one day. In one sitting if possible without any bathroom or food breaks. He had one goal and that was to get to the Baker farm and find Mia. He didn't know who the Bakers were, but he didn't care.

He had been on the road for about five hours when his phone rang. Ethan picked it up and just saw that he had a new email, but it made him wonder if maybe he should update Dan. Sure, he wanted to concentrate on just getting to Mia, but he could drive and talk to Dan.

Besides, he suddenly wanted someone to know that Mia might be okay. He wanted to hear himself say that she might be alive and he wanted Dan to know it too. Things could soon go back to how the used to be or at least some kind of normal.

But after talking to Dan he was surprised at how calm he sounded. He couldn't blame him though. Even Ethan himself sounded so calm. He felt like he was close to jumping out of his own skin, but his voice sounded almost normal.

When he hung up with Dan, he just kept driving. Louisiana was beautiful, but he couldn't pay attention to the sights as he sped by in his car. Mia would have loved it here. Once when they had only been married for a few months, they had gone on a road trip across the country. She had wanted to stop at everything worth seeing and even some things not, like the bobblehead museum near Milwaukee and then the gum wall in Seattle, WA. At times, he thought it was fun, but other times annoying.

When he brought her back, he would stop at every stop she wanted to see. As long as she told him what had happened. He needed to know everything. People didn't just disappear for years.

He tried to turn on the music as he neared, but he couldn't focus on it and it somehow even annoyed him. He turned it off and just concentrated on the road while his thoughts drifted to Mia. What had been happening to her all these years? He had called the police before he left, but they hadn't taken the email seriously and said that it might be some kind of joke.

Maybe it was someone fooling around with him, but Ethan was going to find out. And he wasn't going to wait around for someone to decide to finally help him. Hopefully he would just go to the Baker farm and pick her up and that would be the end of it. Mia had secrets, but they couldn't be too bad.

Right?

Finally, after another hour, Ethan finally arrived near the Baker farm. He stopped a bit ahead of it in case the Bakers wouldn't want him to be here. He would just get Mia and get out of here if that was the case or even if it wasn't.  
He got out of his car, not even bothering to grab the suitcase. He didn't need it right now. He took off almost running toward the Baker's house—no, not house—It was more like a mansion or a plantation. Ethan pulled at the gate, but they didn't budge.

"Shit," Ethan muttered but he was far from surprised. Nothing could ever be easy.

He sighed and shook his head. He would have to find another way in or find someone around here who could help him. To the left was a path, so he hurried down it. It could be a path to a way the back of the mansion. Even if it wasn't, it was better than just standing and waiting at the gate.  
Just a few feet away was an abandoned car. Interesting. Ethan quickly went over and looked and saw something about sneaking into a ghost house. The whole van looked like something a TV crew would use, but it had been abandoned awhile ago. He shook his head. This was strange, but it didn't help him find Mia. They were obviously long gone anyway.

When he got further, he saw someone walking ahead. Ethan was about to yell at him, but the man had already walked away before he could get it out. There was something not right about this whole situation either. Why hadn't Mia said more in her email? It was so unlike the Mia who he used to know who would send him emails that were pages long and when she would write about the simplest things.

He didn't get much further when a horrible smell hit him even before he could see what was causing it. His stomach twisted and if he hadn't eaten a day ago, then he might have thrown up. There was some… Ethan wasn't even sure what to call it… made out of animal carcasses. What kind of sick fuck would do something like that? Yeah, he needed to find Mia and get out of here ASAP.

Despite how Ethan was feeling, he ducked under the animal archway so he could continue down the path. He had to hope that it would lead to Mia. Eventually the smell of dead animals subsided and was replaced with smoke. He took off running toward it. There were dead crows on the ground, but he tried to do his best to ignore them. The fire wasn't much, probably just to get rid of documents, but Mia's purse was lying on top of it. Ethan could never forget it. He had bought it for her for her birthday one year. The two of them had not had much money then and he wished he could have got her a nicer one, but she had loved it anyway and said it was perfect.

He sighed and opened it. Her license was still there. It had something weird like mold on it, but he could still tell it was hers. Ethan put it in his pocket and continued forward. Maybe she would be in the guest house.

It might have been the house that film crew had been exploring, but Ethan didn't believe in ghosts. There were way worse things in the world. He had heard all about Raccoon City and Tall Oaks. Luckily, he doubted he would ever have to face something like that.

Ethan went over to the guest house's door and pushed it open. He half expected it to be locked but it wasn't. At first it was too dark to even see anything and he had to turn on his flashlight, but once he got deeper into the house sunlight was getting in and he could turn it off. The house had certainly seen better days and was covered in dust. It was hard to even breathe because of the dust.

He thought he could smell something besides dust, but he didn't want to think about that. Not after that animal body archway. However, when he saw a pot on the table, curiosity got the better of him. After all there was probably nothing in it. Wrong. There was some kind of disgusting… stew in it… If you could even call it stew.

Ethan cringed and then felt something crawling on his arm. He looked down and saw them. Cockroaches.

"Ugh! Fuck! Fuck!" Ethan swore, trying to swipe them off. Disgusting! What was wrong with this place? He didn't check the microwave or the fridge. He was sure whatever was in there would be just as bad.

He hurried out of the kitchen and went up the stairs where he found an old tape and a VHS player. Really, a VHS? Who had those in 2017? Still Ethan took it downstairs. Maybe he would show it to Mia when he found her. She would think it was weird too. He went into another room which was mostly dark except for the snow on a TV. The first two pictures were weird. He wasn't sure what to think about them. However, the third was of a woman. It didn't show her face, but Ethan could tell it was Mia. His blood ran cold. What had happened to her here?

Ethan went over to the TV and put the tape in the VHS player. Maybe this would have Mia on it too.

It didn't, but what it did have was horrible. Some TV crew, probably from the van outside, had come in this house. They had been looking for ghost houses or something along those lines and during it one of them, Andre, had gone missing. The host had been annoyed and had said all sort of things about wanting to get rid of him.

Ethan rolled his eyes. This guy Pete might have only been a host of a cheesy ghost show and a weekend anchor at one point, but it seemed like it had got to his head.

Maybe Andre had just gotten tired of dealing with that and he had left.

But then they went further in the house and found a secret passage. A secret passage? What kind of house had things like that? Ethan looked to the side. It was the exact same room he was in.

On the video, Pete and the cameraman Clancy continued down the secret passage. Ethan's heart pounded. Clancy climbed down the ladder. Maybe Andre would be there. It could just be some kind of joke. Pete probably even deserved it.

Andre was standing there. Clancy went over to him and grabbed his shoulder, but when he turned him… someone had done something to him. Something horrible.

Ethan gasped and then on the video someone else showed up. Ethan couldn't see who it was but he was probably the one who did this. Clancy started freaking out and screaming, and that was when the video ended.

"Jesus…" Ethan muttered.

Maybe it was fake. Hopefully it was, but if it wasn't…

The video did help him with something though. There was a secret passage. That had been when they found Andre. was probably a horrible idea. That was where that guy had died, but it wasn't like Ethan had a choice. He couldn't let Mia end up like Andre.

He hurried over to the fireplace and then went through the secret passage. It was a horrible idea going in here, but he ignored his comment sense and did it anyway. He slowly went to the ledge and saw the ladder was still there. He paused but then begin to climb down it.

He had only gone down a bit when one of them broke into two. Crap! He grabbed the next one, hoping that it would support him, but it snapped into two as well. He tried to grab something, anything else so he wouldn't fall. He failed and was pulled to the ground by gravity. He quickly put his hands out to catch himself just barely managing to.

Sighing, he stood up. Great… Now he would have to find another way to get out.

He sprinted forward past where that guy had been in the video. There was some water. He didn't know why. Maybe sewage problem. It smelled like that. Worse, actually. Like something had died in it. He kept running. He didn't know what was in the water.

But he didn't get that far.

A rotten body floated to the surface.

All Ethan could do was stare. How could this be? He had heard about twisted people in the world, but he never thought that he would see this. What had been going on here? Had this been one of the men from the tape?

Ethan bit his lip hard enough that he tasted blood and pushed his way further. He hurried out of the water and then ran forward. He noticed a bunch of pictures that were posted on the wall. Maybe people who had gone missing. He'd go to the police after this was done. He'd make them come here.

He ran through the next room and soon found a cell that was in the back. There was a girl laying there. Mia? It had to be Mia. Even though she wasn't facing him he would know her anywhere.

He needed to find something to get her out. Luckily, he didn't have to look far. On the counter nearby were some bolt cutters. He ran back and used them to cut the lock. Finally, he could help Mia.

* * *

Thank you everyone who read, reviewed, followed, and favorited my novel! It means so much to me. I was going to wait until the weekend to post this, but I decided I didn't want to wait. Happy Valentine's Day everyone. I hope your day is wonderful. Again thank you so much for reading and feel free to review.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Even when Ethan cut away the chains, Mia didn't stir. Maybe something was wrong or perhaps and hopefully she was just sleeping deeply. He didn't know how she could sleep when she was in this horrible musty cell. For some reason, it even had walls that were slightly padded.

Ethan hurried over to his wife and turned her over. She was still warm and he could tell that she was breathing.

"Mia! Thank God I found you. It's me! It's Ethan," Ethan said. Part of him wanted to smile and hug his wife tightly, but another part was confused and even afraid. Why had she been gone so long and what was going on here?

"Ethan? Ethan!" Mia said as she finally sat up.

"Are you all right?" Ethan asked. She didn't look great, but mostly, she just looked tired. Ethan didn't notice any obvious injuries. It was a blessing.

"You shouldn't be here," Mia said as she swung her legs over the edge of the bed.

"What do you mean? You contacted me," Ethan said. How could she say that he shouldn't be here? He might not know what had been going on, but it hadn't been good. She should be happy that he was going to get her out of here.

"No, no, I wouldn't. Did I?" Mia asked, looking almost as confused as Ethan felt. How could she forgotten that? Ethan was just about to ask her what was going on but a look of panic spread across her face. Even Ethan's heart race accelerated just because of that look. "Did anyone see you? Did he see you?"

"He? Who else is here? What's going on?" Ethan asked. He wanted any kind of answers. Maybe she was talking about that man who he saw near the guest house. That would make sense. Ethan couldn't help but feel a bit of relief that he hadn't called out to him.

But maybe he had seen him.

Still there was no point in worrying Mia about it, especially when he probably hadn't even seen him. They just needed to get out of here.

"Daddy's coming! We need to go!" Mia said, grabbing his arm and pulling him toward the exit of the cell.

"Daddy?" Ethan asked. What did that mean? Did he even want to know what she meant by that?

"We need to go now!" Mia said, yanking him toward the exit still. She was right. They did have to get out of here.

But he still wanted to know what was happening. None of this made any sense. People didn't just go missing for three years.

Nor did they call random guys "daddy."

Mia hurried out of the cell and Ethan followed closely behind her. Maybe when they got back to the car she would explain everything to him. There had to be some kind of normal explanation for all of this.

At least he hoped.

"Where are you taking me?" Ethan asked. She wasn't going the same way that he had come. Not that they even could go that way with the ladder destroyed, but it wasn't like she knew about that.

"Somewhere safe," Mia said. She probably did know her way around here better. At least she would have if she wasn't locked up in the cell the whole time. Ethan didn't even want to consider that they would have done that to Mia. Being locked in a small place like that for years would drive anyone crazy, even his amazingly strong resilient wife.

"Are you going to tell me what's going on?" Ethan asked with a sigh. It would be smart to just wait until they were in the car, but he didn't want to wait. He was so confused and someone could have heard Mia. He chewed on his own lip. "You've been gone for three years."

"Three years?" Mia asked in a whisper. It didn't even sound like it was real to her. "Has it really been three years?"

Ethan didn't need to tell her that it should be and he followed her forward. Once they got out of here, he would have to tell her everything that she had missed. He would tell her how much he loved her and how it was hard to even live without her some days.

When they got further, Ethan accidentally kicked something with his foot that caused a banging noise that echoed through the room. Both of them paused, but no one came. Everything was silent again except for their breathing.

"What is this place? What did they do to you?" Ethan couldn't help but ask when they started moving yet again.

"Not now! We need to get out of here first," Mia said, shooting him a look. She pointed up ahead. "I think it's this way."

Ethan hoped she was right. They could go back to the ladder which he had broken, but there was no way up it. He could also try to call for help, but his cell reception hadn't been good even when he was driving to this place. He was lucky he had called Dan when he had.

"Mia, we have to talk," Ethan said as they got further ahead. He tried to sound as calm as he possibly could. It wouldn't help things if she thought he was mad at her. "The message that you sent me…"

"Not me!" Mia denied. "That wasn't me!"

Ethan still didn't know how she could say that. No one else could have sent that email to him? Could they? It had led him right to her.  
"But you did."

"I didn't!" Mia cried.

"Okay, fine. Just tell me what's going on," Ethan said, since he wasn't getting anywhere with her saying she had sent the email. He wanted to hear what she thought had happened.

"I'm telling you everything that I know," Mia said.

But how could that be? Wouldn't she remember some things that happened during the last three years?

Mia motioned up ahead. "We have to go this way."

Ethan nodded and followed her, but just a few seconds later they reached a dead end. Or at least if there had been a path, it was blocked with a large shelf in the way.

"Mia, are you sure you know where we're going?" Ethan asked. It was very possible she didn't have this place memorized.

"The family used to bring me food here," Mia said. "I remember."

The family? Who were they? The people who had taken Mia? The ones who had obviously kept her here?

Mia went closer to the shelf and managed to squeeze in a gap between in and the wall. It was pretty tight, but Ethan had to try to fit in there too, especially if it would get them out of here. Luckily, despite how tight the fit was he made it through. A few times, he was worried that he would get stuck, but it didn't happen.

They went a few steps forward when Mia looked back at him. Her eyes had what looked like hope in them. She pointed ahead. "There! It's there." She went toward the door and then looked back at him again. "This is it!"

Mia pushed open the door and the two of them went into a small room with wooden boards nailed to the wall and a small love seat with a coffee table in front on it on the right side. The room had the same musty moldy smell at the rest of the house.

With a bit of blood.

Still Mia didn't seem to smell blood. Her eyes still had hope in them.

"There's another door here. I'm sure of it." Mia went forward to where some of the wooden boards were nailed and even before she said anything, Ethan could tell that something wasn't right just by how she was moving back and forth.

"It's not here. It's gone!" she cried. He was about to say something to comfort her, but then she turned around and looked at him. "We're going to be a family now that you're here."

Ethan frowned. That was… random… Before she had gone missing, he had tried to talk to her about kids. Ethan had always loved them and he wanted to have one or two, but Mia wasn't ready. Once she had told him that she wasn't even sure she liked kids.

It was strange considering she had a babysitting job supposedly.

"There's another door here. I'm sure of it," Mia said with a sigh. Just by how she was holding herself, Ethan could tell that she was tired. Maybe that was why she was talking about being a family. Mia never talked about that. At least she didn't three years ago.

Mia went over to the couch and sat down on it. Ethan hurried over to her. She was so pale and skinny compared to how she had been before. Whoever had taken her hadn't been treating her right, that was obvious.

"Mia," Ethan said as he helped her lay down.

When he found out who did this he was going to… he would make sure that they regretted it. He wasn't a violent person, but he'd make sure the police didn't come up with excuses as to why they couldn't do anything. He'd find a way to make them regret hurting his wife. Part of him even wanted to hurt them himself,

Mia was the most important person to him in this world.

"We got to get out of here," Mia muttered.

"Just stay here, alright?" Ethan said. He wanted to stroke Mia's beautiful long brown hair, but he wasn't sure that it was the right choice given everything. "I'm going to look around."

He probably had a better chance of finding the escape then Mia did right now when she was like this.

There was a small dark room behind them so Ethan figured it wouldn't hurt to check that out. Maybe the door had really been in there instead. However, when he got in there, it looked like that wasn't the case. This room looked like pretty much everything in the basement with the same stone walls. There were some empty shelves on the wall as well. No… they weren't empty. There was a creepy doll on one of them and another doll that looked like it had been thrown to the ground.

Ethan picked it up. It was wearing a blue dress and had long black hair and a ribbon in its hair. And boy, was it creepy. He had never liked dolls even as a child. They had always given him a bad feeling.

"Leave me alone!" Mia screamed as something came crashing to the ground from the other room.

Ethan's heart stopped. What was going on? Was someone doing something to hurt Mia? Someone had to be doing that? He should never have left her there. He had seen that man outside the house. He could be here now. He could be the one in the room with his wife.

He dropped the doll to the ground and ran as fast as could back to the room. He would do whatever it took to save Mia. He wouldn't let anyone hurt her again. He couldn't.

"Mia!" Ethan called when he got back into the room, but it didn't matter. She wasn't there.

Gone… Mia was gone again. There was no one in the room. It was almost like Mia and Ethan had never even been in there.

However now there was a path that hadn't been there before. That had to be where Mia was.

Mia might never have been the kind of person who worked out or even in high school was picked first for sports. He didn't even work out that much now. None of that mattered. He would do whatever it took to save her.

Mia… He would never love someone as much as her.

And he would do whatever it took to find her.

* * *

I want to thank everyone who has followed, favorited, or even just read my story. It means a lot to me. I will post chapter 4 on Wednesday or Thursday.


	4. Chapter 4: Why RE characters don't marry

Ethan sprinted up the stairs, hoping that it would lead right to Mia and she would be okay. He didn't know why she would scream like that if she was okay, but he still tried to convince himself that there could be a reasonable explanation for it. She could just be up ahead.

But when he got into the hallway of what had to be another part of the guest house, she wasn't here. There wasn't much of anything in the hall. There was a small table with a telephone on it and another with a small lamp on it, but there wasn't much else.

He ran further down the hall. There was a door open ahead. Maybe she was in that room. It didn't make sense that she wasn't calling for him, but she could have passed out. She obviously wasn't feeling like herself. If she was passed out, t hen he would pick her up and get her far away from this house.

The door just led to a bathroom that had standard bathroom things as well as some first aid medicine. Mia had always insisted that they keep that at their house. She said you never knew what was going to happen. Ethan always doubted that they would need something that strong but…

He shook his head. She was here in this house. She had to be.

Something rattled from the stairs he came from. Mia! He knew that it was her and yet… he had a bad feeling about it. She should call to him, not make that noise. But he was overreacting. It had gotten dark and everything was just creepy.

He sprinted toward the noise. It was coming from the staircase. He wanted to call to his wife, but for some reason, his voice wasn't working. He pushed open the door and only had taken a few steps forward when he heard breathing. But not normal breathing. There was something wrong with it. His heart pounded against his chest, but he kept going.

He had to.

Everything went dark. Only for a moment but long enough.

And then Mia was in front of him.

Except something wasn't right with her.

Her skin was veiny and the coloring was all wrong. She almost looked… sick… Not quite like the pictures he had seen of… No… He didn't even want to compare his wife to anything from a bioterrorist outbreak.

But that was what it reminded him of.

Especially with the look in her eyes. It wasn't like any he had seen from his sweet wife even when she had been pissed off at him.

Maybe… maybe there was some way to explain it.

But then she growled at him and grabbed him. He didn't know what to expect when she did that. He didn't even know what to do. Push her away? He couldn't even make himself do that.

She then threw him up the stairs. Literally threw. He crashed into the wall upstairs, hurting his shoulder. This couldn't be happening. Mia had been infected with something. He didn't know what.

No normal human could have that kind of strength.

His shoulder was throbbing, but he didn't care about that. He needed to do something.

Somehow, he stood up.

Mia was there. She had a knife. She had it near his face. Fear... He could taste it. She didn't stab him with it and threw him further down the hall instead. He crashed hurting his shoulder and arm even more.

It didn't matter.

She ran toward him impossibly fast. She still had the knife. No. She wouldn't do something to him. He had just talked to his wife and… she couldn't change into some kind of monster that fast. Could she?

She had to still be there.

But he was wrong.

She tried to stab him. He tried to push her away. He needed to find a way to get her to stop. He wanted to yell at her to stop. Maybe get her to see some kind of reason, but she kept trying to stab him. Over and over again.

He put his hand up, trying to get her to stop.

And then there was a knife. Through his hand. It took a moment for the pain to hit him, but it wasn't as bad as it should have been. Maybe because he was in shock.

None of this seemed like it was real. Why did it have to be reality?

He pushed her away with her other hand. He doubted it would work. She might even stab him somewhere besides his hand. Like his neck.

But he did manage to push her back. She crashed into the wall. He couldn't stop the wave of guilt he felt at first. But it only lasted for a second. She wasn't done. She ran at him with the knife.

"Mia! Mia, wait!" Ethan cried, hoping that he would somehow get to her. That was possible, right?

She kept running toward him with it. His face. She was going for his face. He grabbed her arm, doing his best to keep her away. But she was strong. Stronger than him now. He could feel himself losing strength. She was getting closer and closer.

And then she stopped, but not before cutting up Ethan's hands. He looked at them. Blood. His hand was dripping with his own blood.

"I can hear her. I can feel her clawing her way back inside of me," Mia said. She now looked more like the normal Mia and yet… "Get out! Leave me alone!" She threw herself into the wall. Ethan knew that he should do something to stop her, but he was afraid. She might act… crazy again and attack him. He wasn't sure he would be able to keep her away again. "I've been bad. I deserve this," Mia said before she did it again and this time fell to the ground unconscious.

"What the fuck are you, Mia?" Ethan asked, staring at her. This… how could this be the same woman who he had married? His sweet wife who had always been there for him. He used to wonder why she would choose to be with him when she could be with anyone.

Ethan went back in the bathroom and grabbed the first aid med, which he poured on his hand. The pain subsided, but Mia was still out there passed out and infected with who knew what. He went back to his wife. He could still get her out here and take her to the hospital. They might have some kind of cure for this.

Didn't they have a cure for everything now?

He went back over to her, praying that she would be normal still. Maybe even passed out. It was horrible to hope for that, but he didn't know what would happen if she attacked him again.

He found out.

She stood up and gripped his hand. He knew right away that she wasn't his Mia by the hardness in her face.

"Leave me!" she said and then pushed him through the wall.

Through the wall. Not against it. Through it. She was either that strong or the wall was weak. He fell to the ground again, which hurt more than going through the actual wall.

There was an axe on the ground next to him. Ethan hesitated for a minute. He didn't want to hurt Mia even now, but he needed to defend himself. He would only use it to protect himself. He wouldn't hurt her.

At least that was what he told himself.

"Go!" Mia almost growled.

Part of him wished that he could do that, but even now he couldn't.

"You shouldn't have come, Ethan," Mia spat out. "Now you're going to have to be dead too."

Ethan just raised the axe in front of his face in an attempt to protect himself. Please let the other Mia come out. The one who he had married. It didn't happen.

She tried to stab him. He did his best to push her away, but kept coming at him. He was going to die if he didn't do anything. Maybe that would be better. But he couldn't. He didn't want to die.

He hit Mia in the face, hating himself. He never thought that he would be the kind of guy who did that. Now wasn't a normal situation, but that didn't stop the guilt from creeping up in him. He hoped it would make her stop, but it didn't even then.

She stabbed him in the shoulder. Before today, it would have been the worst pain he had ever felt. She pulled it out and came at him again. And he tried to defend himself without hurting her. He really did.

But she wouldn't stop.  
He swung at her and hit her in the shoulder. Her face changed instantly. She was the Mia who he knew again. She gasped and then fell to the ground. Reaching out for him as she did.

What had he done? Dead… Mia was dead… He stared at her, wishing that somehow it would change. He wished that this day had never happened. That he had never even gotten that email.

And that Mia had never even gotten that babysitting job.

Something was ringing. He didn't even move at first. It might not even be real. Just his mind playing tricks on him, but it didn't stop. Why wasn't it stopping? Ethan didn't plan to go over to it, but his legs did it without his permission almost as if they were on auto pilot. Soon he was next to the phone.

He picked it up.

"You really shouldn't have come here," the voice said, sounding annoyed.

"Who's this?" Ethan asked, surprised that he could even get words out and that his voice sounded somewhat normal. "And what the fuck is going on?"

"My name's Zoe. There should be a way through the attic," she grumbled. How did she even know that he was down here? Did she know what he had done? "Go there now!"

The attic… He put the phone down and hurried back into the room where he had left his wife. She wasn't there… How was that possible? Had someone came in and grabbed her? Or had she left on her own?

Ethan needed to get out and then he would get help. He picked up the axe again and ran back into the part of the guest house he had been in earlier. He hurried up the stairs, but there was no way to go up it since the stairs wouldn't lower. Soon he found the fuse so he could lower them. He ran toward the stairs, but he didn't make it to them.

Mia came out of a room and grabbed his hands. He cringed and tried to yank away. She might look normal right now, but it wasn't going to last.

"Ethan. It's me. It's okay. It's okay. It's me. I know you didn't mean to hurt me," Mia said calmly as if she was speaking to a scared child. The scared part was accurate.

He opened his mouth to reply. Part of him wanted to tell her how happy he was that she was okay. He never had wanted to hurt her. Another part was terrified that she could recover from something like that. He couldn't believe it was just some kind of miracle when he seen news stories about weird diseases.

He didn't get a chance to utter a single word. Her face changed right in front of him and even more fear grew within him. She slammed him against the wall. The pain didn't even matter anymore.

"But you shouldn't have done that," Mia screamed. "It fucking hurt!"

He was wrong about the pain not mattering to him. He found that out when she stabbed a screwdriver through his palm. He let out a cry. He knew that he should try and pull it out. It hurt even moving with that in his hand though. Every time it moved, it was like it was being pushed in again. Taking it out… it would be worse.

He would have to do it eventually. He couldn't just wait here for Mia to go back to normal, could he? Maybe she wouldn't even go back to normal this time.

She walked away, and Ethan wasn't sure how he felt. Relieved? Maybe a little, but also terrified because where could she be going? And soon that got worse when he heard something like an engine running. Not a car engine. It was more like…

Chainsaw?

"Now let's see how you feel," Mia said.

She started coming over and he instantly saw that he was right. She did have a chainsaw. This couldn't be happening. He grabbed the screwdriver, but even moving it made pain shoot through his hand. He needed to just do this. It would hurt, but it wouldn't be as bad as whatever she was planning.

So he yanked it out. He winced as the pain shot through his arm, but he ignored it. He was free.

It didn't matter. She was coming at him with the chainsaw. Raising it over his head. Without thinking, he rose his arm to defend himself from her. It was stupid. So stupid.

Because she pushed it into his arm. At first, he felt nothing. And then it all hit him. The cutting. The tearing. Ethan screamed and fell to the ground, but it was too late. His hand felt weird. It felt like…

He looked down and saw his arm. He frowned. It didn't hit him at first. How was that possible? His arm was there, but his hand wasn't. He looked at his arm, even though it should have been obvious what he was going to see. Not his hand… His stomach twisted. This couldn't… It just couldn't and shouldn't…

Mia laughed like a witch in a Disney movie and pushed him back. All Ethan could do was put his right hand over where his left hand used to be. It was bleeding profusely. He would bleed to death if he didn't do something soon.

She would come over and kill him. He knew that she would.

But she didn't.

She said something incoherent and then walked off, leaving him alone to bleed to death. Ethan forced himself to stand up and picked up his hand. Maybe if he got to the hospital than they could reattach it.

Or maybe he was fucked.

He forced himself to go up the stairs and then pushed the button so the stairs to the attic were lowered. He didn't know if he would be able to make it to the hospital in time or even how he would drive like this, but he had to try.

The stairs lowered and he went up. The first room didn't have much in it but there were some bullets, first aid medicine, and a gun. He paused. He didn't want to think that he might have to use it, but… He sighed and picked it up.

"Okay, fine," he said as he did his best to load it. He hadn't gone shooting since he was a kid, but he had been okay at it. Better than his brother.  
He left this room and headed to the next one. This room looked like the place they must have been storing the furniture that they no longer used. There were also some boxes and manikins.

And there was a ladder to the window. His escape. It would be hard to climb it with one hand, but he didn't care. He dashed over to it and started climbing it. Even moving his hand hurt, but he didn't care.

Then he heard it.

The chainsaw. It was coming from above him. Mia.

He let go of the ladder and jumped to the ground. He didn't know what he was going to do, but he couldn't just stand here. He wasn't going to let her do whatever she was planning.

When she fell to the ground, destroying the ladder, he pointed the gun at her. He hoped that she would stop maybe go back to her old self. It didn't happen. She came at him with the chainsaw speaking all sorts of nonsense.

He shot her. He thought he would regret it instantly, but he didn't have the time because she came at him again.

"You were always watching me. Why?" Mia asked.

What was she even talking about? Maybe she meant that he had been worried about who she was working with. He could tell right away it hadn't been a normal babysitting job but she told him that he was worrying for nothing. Obviously, he hadn't been.

She tried to cut him with the chainsaw again and he barely managed to dodge her again. He could smell the gas it was letting off. It must have been an older one. He shot her again and again.

She still wasn't falling.

"No choice. No choice," Mia said, but she kept on attacking him. He wished that he had a choice. That he could stop. But he couldn't.

"It all has to come down," Mia said, but he didn't say anything. He didn't know what to say. There was nothing that would fix this. He was going to die. She was never going to stop.

But then she did.

"I love you," Mia said, changing back into the Mia that he had loved and married. She fell to the ground. Ethan looked at her. He was shaking. What had he done? Was this really it? He took a step away from her, wishing that this day had never happened.

He didn't know where he should go or what he should do. Maybe turn himself into the police.

He didn't get the chance to decide.

The man from earlier grabbed him and punched him in the face. "Welcome to the family, son."

Ethan fell to the ground right next to his wife. If it wasn't for the pool of blood that she was lying in than she would have looked like she was sleeping. But she wasn't.

The man from earlier came over and stomped on his face. His shoe was the last thing he saw before darkness overtook him.

* * *

Here is chapter 4 like I promised. I might be a little late on chapter 5 because I will be doing some family things this weekend, but at the latest I should have it posted next Wednesday. I'm going to try and post it earlier though. Thank you all for reading, reviewing, following, and favoriting my story.


	5. Chapter 5

Sorry about the delay. It was a busy week and my cat died. He was a good boy, but he had a nice long life. Still, I will miss him.

I hope this chapter is worth the wait. I'll try to get the next chapter posted this week. Thank you for your comments, follows, favorites, and for reading.

* * *

Ethan did regain consciousness twice or at least he was pretty sure he did. They almost seemed like dreams that faded away as quickly as they appeared. The first only happened for a few seconds as he was being dragged through the rain to the main house. He wanted to try to escape, but it was hard to even stay conscious and soon the darkness pulled him away again.

The second time, he was awakened by a voice. Maybe the woman who had been on the phone.  
"Come on. Don't die on us. You have work to do," she drawled as he heard something that sounded like a stapler. He forced his eyes open and saw that someone was stapling his hand back on to his arm. It didn't hurt nearly as much as he thought it would. He wanted to tell her that it wouldn't work. He would need to go to the doctor and that would have to do something else. The words wouldn't come.

The world became black again.

When he finally awoke again, he was at the dinner table with four people. The first one was the one who he had saw in the forest and had been the person who brought him here. The one on his left was an old lady, probably the kidnapper's mother or something. In between the two of them was a man wearing a hoodie who looked like he was probably about Ethan's age. Lucas grinned at him and threw some food at him, luckily missing. The finally person was a woman probably in her fifties who had her brown hair tied in some kind of ponytail.

They were eating something disgusting. It looked like intestines and smelled awful like it was rotting. Ethan's stomach churned, but he tried to ignore it.

"Where am I?" he finally managed to get out.

The woman gave him a creepy looking smile. "Rise and shine, sleepyhead. It's time for supper."

Supper? There was no way that Ethan was going to eat something like that. What was even going on? He wished that everything that happened was a dream, but clearly it wasn't because here he was. Jesus, what was he going to do?

The guy in a hoodie threw yet more food at Ethan. He needed to stop.

"Who are you people? Where's Mia?" Ethan asked, knowing that he sounded terrified but at the moment he didn't care.

They ignored him and the woman smiled at him again. "Eat it. It's good."

Good? Yeah right.

"Son of bitch wouldn't know good if it hit him," the guy in a hoodie said. He threw a whole plate at Ethan, causing him to cringe but luckily he didn't hit him.

"Lucas," the woman said.

Ethan didn't know what he expected to happen. Maybe that the woman would tell him to stop or something. He was wrong. The person who kidnapped him pulled out a knife and stabbed it into Lucas's arm and then cut it off.

Oh God! God! What the Hell?

"Goddamn it! Not again!" Lucas cried, not caring nearly as much as Ethan would have.

"Get out of the way, Marguerite," the kidnapper said as he stood up and then moved past her. Toward Ethan. Ethan's heart beat hard. He wanted to try and move, but his arms were tied up. "That boy's got to eat his supper." He grabbed a spoon and tried to shove it into Ethan's mouth. No! He wouldn't eat it. He didn't know what that "food" was exactly or what it would do to him, but he wasn't going to find out. Nope.

"He's not eating it, Jack! He's not eating!" Marguerite cried out as she stood up. The fact that she was freaking out so much about it made him want to eat it even less.

"Shut the hell up, Marguerite," Jack said.

"I made that for him!" Marguerite said.

Jack scowled and picked the chair she had been down. "Get the hell out of here!"

"You're a son of a bitch!" Marguerite said, but she stormed out of the room.

"This was supposed to be a special feast," Jack said, holding something. Ethan didn't know what it was and he didn't think he wanted to. He picked up a knife. "Come here, boy."  
What was he going to do with that? Ethan was tempted to tell him he would eat the food, but then he stabbed him in the face. Ethan ground his teeth together wanting to let out a cry. Was this how he was going to die?

"Come on now," Jack said about to do it again but then a phone rang saving Ethan.

"God damn it," Lucas said. Jack pulled the knife away and looked at his son. "It's probably that cop again."

"God damn pigs," Jack muttered. He looked off toward Lucas who was leaving and then glanced back at Ethan. "I'm coming back for you."

Ethan wouldn't be here. As soon as he left, Ethan tilted to the side, managing to knock his chair down which freed him. Jack's mother was still sitting there. For a moment, Ethan wasn't even sure if she was alive or dead. She was alive. But she was fine here. He needed to get out of here.

Ethan ran out of the room and into the hallway. He would have to be quiet and as carefully as he could. He didn't know what Jack would do to him if he found him, but he also didn't want to find out. The hallway at first appeared empty. Ethan took off running. He didn't know if he was going in the right direction, but he didn't care right now. He just had to get out.

He saw some keys and quickly grabbed them. They said something about being for a hatch. He didn't know if he would be useful but it was better than have to come back and grab them later. Besides they were just keys.

He didn't get far when he saw Jack, carrying a shovel. Ethan stopped for a moment. Only a moment and then he took off running in the other direction but that was all it took for Jack to see him.

"You thought you'd skip out without dinner," Jack said.

Ethan didn't even think twice and took off running in the other direction. He had a feeling that Jack wasn't carrying the shovel because he planned to garden. Ethan didn't want to be hit by it.

He didn't want Jack to have to use that shovel to bury him in the garage.

Ethan ran into the dining room with Jack close on his heels. Wouldn't he have to lose him eventually? Maybe not. Jack knew this house and Ethan didn't. Ethan backed up, wishing that he could come up with something.

He didn't get the chance because Jack was swinging his shovel. Ethan barely managed to get out of the way before it crashed into him. The table wasn't so lucky.

"Goddamn it. How am I going to replace this?" Jack said.

That wasn't Ethan's problem. He ran into the back room and saw a hatch. A hatch that looked like it had to be locked. The key… Maybe he would get lucky and the key would open it. He quickly pulled it out of his pocket almost dropping it to the ground. It probably wouldn't work. It might not do anything.

But when he tried to open it, it did just that.

Then Jack came in the room. Ethan mouthed a swear word and jumped down the hatch. He expected to be stopped and pulled back up. Jack would kill him.

That didn't happen.

He didn't follow him either. For now he was safe.

There wasn't much in the crawl space. It was a small crammed area with a few small pieces of furniture and other household appliances and boxes. The whole place smelled like dust. It was better than how the rest of the house smelled. The insulation was disgusting and completely destroyed.

Ethan ran forward. He knew that this wouldn't lead to an escape, but maybe it would go somewhere that Jack wasn't and then he could find a way out and also Mia. She had to be here somewhere.

He kept running and eventually saw a ramp that led out of the crawl space. He paused. If he went up there, it could lead to more danger, but it wasn't like he could spend the rest of his life down here. He would just have to hope that Jack and the others weren't up there.

They weren't. Instead he was just greeted by laundry machines. This room used to be a laundry room, but it had seen better days like he had a feeling that much of the house had. There was a table with some papers and a cassette player on it, but he had no use for any of that. There was also a phone sitting on the table. He went over and got a closer look at the papers. One was a map. He didn't want to be in the house long enough to have to use it, but he took it anyway. Also there were some shelves with boxes and other items he didn't need.

Ethan sighed. It would have been good to find something that could be used as a weapon. He was going to need to protect himself. There was a small jewelry box and when he opened that he found a lockpick. Better than nothing but he doubted he would be able to use it much. It looked like it might break.  
Ethan pushed the door open, but he didn't get to go out. The phone rang. He paused. Maybe it was a horrible idea to answer it. Then again it could be someone who would help him. He sighed and went over to it, hoping that he would not regret this.

"You did good, Ethan," a female voice said over the phone. It was that Zoe woman from earlier. At least he was pretty sure that it was.

"Zoe, right? What the fuck are these-" Ethan started to say, but he didn't get the chance to finish.

"Shut up and listen if you want to stay alive," she said.

Knowing what was coming after him would help him stay alive? He had no idea what was even going on and how his wife had even got messed up with this.

"You got to get out of that house," Zoe said even though he knew that. Obviously he couldn't stay here. "There might be a way out through the main room. Oh and that thing on your wrist is a codex. Don't lose it. It's important."

Ethan would have asked her something anything, but he didn't get a chance. He was greeted by the dial tone.

He was on his own again.


End file.
